Overboard
by abbyfillion22
Summary: While on a cruise to Bermuda, Castle and Beckett investigate the murder of a young heiress who was thrown off the ship.
1. Chapter 1

Castle stood in the docking area with a few hundred other travelers. The hot sun was beating down and he was grateful for the canvas overhang above them.

Kate fanned herself with their boarding passes. "Could it be any hotter?" she asked. There was a warm breeze that made her white sundress flutter around her thighs.

He grinned and put his arm around her shoulder. "You? No way. The weather? Yes. One time, it was 136.4° in El Azizia, Libya," he said smartly.

He saw her roll her eyes under her Ray Ban wayfarers, not believing that she had fallen into his trap. "That was a rhetorical question, Castle."

"I know," he smiled, giving her a kiss.

She pressed herself against him, ignoring the disapproving glare of a middle aged mother who apparently didn't like PDA. "I heard Bermuda is beautiful around this time of year," she said.

He shuddered, feeling her slightly sweaty body on his. He pushed her away from him. "Save it for the boat or we'll get arrested for indecent exposure."

She laughed and took another step away from him.

The line started moving and they handed their tickets to a man in a flowered shirt at the door. "Enjoy your trip, Mr. Castle," said the man, tearing off one end of the ticket and giving the other half back to him.

They had to cross a narrow metal bridge connecting the dock to the boat. He looked over the barrier to the dark water below, thinking about all of the odd sea creatures hidden in the darkness.

He jumped when Kate nudged him from behind. "Keep moving," she said.

They emerged into a wide lobby area with two grand staircases on either side. The ceilings were adorned with intricate molding and paintings of the Greek god, Poseidon. Chrystal chandeliers lit the room with a warm glow. It was about the size of a football field with a pit in the center that held the public bar.

As he looked around, Castle couldn't help but wonder how in the world something of this size could even float. He made a mental note to ask Alexis when they got home.

He had booked the penthouse suite on the twelfth floor. It had a private balcony that the travel agency promised provided the most spectacular views of the sunset.

The king sized bed was directly in front of a huge window and a bottle of champagne was waiting in an ice bucket for them when they arrived. The whole room was decorated in nautical colors; navy and white.

"You really outdid yourself, Castle," said Kate, spinning around in the middle of the suite.

He pulled her into his arms and reached around her. He slyly pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and tossed it in the safe along with his own. "No cases this week," he said, locking the safe.

She fidgeted uncomfortably. "What if they need to reach us?" meaning, Esposito and Ryan.

"They'll live," said Castle. "No interruptions on our trip."

There were three low blares of the ship's horn, signaling the departure.

He poured them both champagne and they went out to the balcony. It was still hot and the ice cold alcohol gave him a pleasant buzz.

Kate leaned up against the banister and watched as the workers untied the gigantic ropes from the dock.

He joined her, putting an arm around her waist.

"So you're not at all worried about sailing through the Bermuda Triangle?" she asked teasingly, staring into the horizon. She knew how superstitious he was. The breeze blew her curly brown hair and it tickled his chin as she turned towards him.

To tell the truth, he had been obsessing over the Triangle for weeks before leaving. He had seen enough Discovery Channel to know that people really did go missing over that area.

"No," he lied.

"Really, Castle?" she said, surprised. "You believe in mummy curses, ghosts, and Bigfoot but not disappearing in the Triangle?"

He grinned. "Maybe it will make your clothes disappear," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

She fingered the collar of his shirt. "I think we can make that happen on our own," she said seductively, taking him by the hand and leading him back into the cabin.

They lay in bed next to each other, watching the sun set. Kate's head was resting on his shoulder and the feel of her chest on his side made gave him chills, despite the extreme temperature outside.

The sky was a billion shades of pinks, oranges, yellows, and reds. Even the most talented artist couldn't replicate the view from their window. The sea rippled and reflected the same shades in a slightly bluer tint. The surface of the water was silvery and sometimes when the setting sun hit it just right, you could see flashes of white bounce off of the waves.

"It's so beautiful," Kate breathed as she ran her toe up and down his bare leg.

He used his hand to tilt her chin towards him. "It's nowhere near as beautiful as you," he whispered.

She rewarded him with a kiss for his cheesy compliment.

That when the shouting started. At least a dozen men were yelling at each other from somewhere above them.

Then, something flew past their window.

They both jumped.

"What the hell was that?" said Kate, wrapping the sheet around her torso and hurrying to the balcony.

She slid the glass door open and stepped onto the platform.

He followed, pulling his pants on before he got outside. The concrete floor of the balcony was still warm from baking all day long.

Kate leaned as far as the barrier would let her and stared into the water below. She swore under her breath then turned and looked skywards.

He came up behind her to see what she was looking at. His heart sank when he saw what was floating in the water.

It was a woman dressed in a pretty blue evening dress. Her blonde hair spread around her in a halo of gold. She was pale and she wore no shoes.

He couldn't make out the details of her face, but he could tell that she was beautiful.

Her body floated in the small waves made by the ship, bumping against the side of it then pushed out again; only to be sucked in again.

Rick watched until the woman's body was out of his line of sight; lost in the wake of the ship. When he finally tore his gaze away, he realized that Kate had left; no doubt to get someone to retrieve the body.

He was about to call her when he realized that her phone was locked in the safe. He sighed and set out on the long task of locating her on the huge boat.

By the time he located her, it was dark out. She was standing at the stern with a small crew of men. They had sent a man down in a rowboat to get the body.

Two of the men turned wheels to pull the boat back up to the deck. The man who had been assigned the retrieval task was soaking wet and was grumbling something in Spanish under his breath.

They team lifted the woman out of the boat and onto a cart.

The victim's hair was tangled and laced with seaweed. Her dress was torn and bloody over her heart where the murder weapon was still embedded. It was a large kitchen knife, the kind you'd use to chop cucumbers.

"Has anyone identified her yet?" asked Kate to one of the workers. According to his name plate, his name was Tanvir.

"No, ma'am," said Tanvir in a Jamaican accent. "The crew is working on that right now."

Castle nodded. "We should look into the people on the thirteenth floor right above us," he said to Kate.

"I'm sorry, but we can't let you do that," said Tanvir.

"Why not?" asked Kate.

"Our security will take care of it once we dock, ma'am," said Tanvir. "We just want you to enjoy your trip."

"Once we dock?" said Castle, incredulously. "You're going to let a killer walk around the ship until we _dock_?"

"I'm sorry, but is there a problem here?" asked another man dressed in navy.

"Captain Reynolds," said Tanvir, "These were the passengers that called this situation to our attention."

Captain Reynolds shook their hands. "So sorry for the disturbance," he said. "Enjoy complimentary drinks on me." He was a short man with a comb-over and a mustache.

"That's very kind of you, Captain," said Kate, "but we're more concerned for the other passenger's safety."

"Why?" asked Reynolds. "We're on a ship, the killer can't get off."

"There are always the lifeboats," Castle pointed out.

Reynolds shook his head. "They're under lock and key."

"That's not the point," said Kate. "The point is that you have a murderer on the loose and he could strike again at any moment."

Reynolds looked at her blankly.

Kate sighed. "I'm going to put this in terms you may understand, sir. _Money_. When PR finds out that there's been a murder on your cruise, you're going to get a lot of bad press which equals less…" she waited for him to finish the equation

"Money?" Reynolds said as more of a question. He wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Castle nodded slowly. "That's right. And if there's a second murder on the same trip, which means more bad press which means less…"

"Money," said Reynolds.

"Exactly," said Kate. "And you may get sued by the families of the victims also."

Reynolds gasped his eyes wide. "Oh no! We can't have that."

Beckett and Castle shook their heads.

"I would suggest ordering a lockdown until we can check backgrounds and find out who our victim is," said Beckett.

Captain Reynolds hurried away to speak with his staff.

The two of them burst out laughing as soon as he was out of earshot.

"My God, it's like speaking to a child!" said Castle.

"I know!" said Kate, wiping tears from her eyes. "We can't leave this investigation to him, Castle."

He shook his head. "Oh, no. He'll probably say that she fell on the knife and then she jumped off board." He said between gasps of breath.

"We have to be nice to him if we want in on the case," she said seriously.

"Oh, Captain!" he called to Reynolds.

Reynolds shuffled over to them. "Yes?"

"We forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Rick Castle and this is Detective Beckett."

Reynolds wiped his forehead. He was sweating profusely and his shirt had dark spots in the pits and stomach area. "They're ordering all the passengers to stay in their cabins," he said.

"We were wondering if we could help with this case," said Beckett.

Reynolds shook his head. "No, you two just enjoy your trip; we have this all under control."

As he said this, two of his crew members who were wheeling the victim amidships hit a bump and the corpse rolled off, hitting the deck with a dull thud.

Captain Reynolds closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to control his temper.

Castle and Beckett smirked at each other as the staff scrambled to lift the body again, cursing at each other in Spanish.

"Hijo di puta!" cried one man, smacking the other upside the head. "Pinche idiota!"

The other shoved him back. "Vete al infierno tu pendejo!"

"Inútil!" Captain Reynolds shouted at the workers. He turned back to them. "Maybe I could use your help."


	2. Chapter 2

Castle sat in a large meeting room located at the heart of the ship. The walls were covered in wood paneling and had two portholes that were a few feet above sea level.

A whiteboard had been wheeled in per Beckett's request.

He watched her scribble notes on the board in a thick black marker. One of the crew members had given her a photo of the Jane Doe that now hung under the Victims column.

She capped the marker and tossed her hair. "So what do we know?" Beckett asked Captain Reynolds.

Reynolds stopped chewing the croissant he was in the middle of enjoying. "My crew is working on getting in the cabin above yours but there's a Do Not Disturb sign on the door so we have to wait."

Beckett and Castle looked at each other. "Is that a marine law or something?" he asked.

Reynolds swallowed. "No, it's just common courtesy."

Castle stifled a laugh.

Beckett rubbed her forehead. "I suggest you pressure them to let you in. If not, I'm sure you'd have no trouble getting a warrant."

"Right," said Reynolds as if he knew this all along. "We know who the victim is though." He reached into a briefcase at his feet and slid a file across the mahogany desk. "Emma Lexington. She owns a timeshare on the suite across from yours."

Beckett looked at Emma's personal information. She was 25 years old and lived in the Boston area. There was not much background because it was just standard necessary traveling information but they knew she was a Yale alumni by the T-shirt she wore in her passport photo.

"She was the heiress of Lexington Corporations," Reynolds informed them.

"Lexington? As in Lexington Jewelry?" said Castle. "That's like, the Kay of the Southwest!"

Beckett shook her head at him thinking, _what a metrosexual_.

"That's right," said Reynolds.

Beckett tossed the file to Castle. She turned and wrote 'Emma Lexington' under her photo.

"Wait," said Castle, pointing to a document in the file, "It says that she has some precious cargo in your storage area."

"She always brings on huge crates every time she travels with us," said Reynolds.

"And what was in those crates?" asked Beckett.

"Who knows," said Reynolds with a wave of the hand.

"They didn't go through customs?" asked Castle.

Reynolds chewed his lip. "Well I'm sure they did but it's none of our business what's in there unless there's a problem."

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Make it your business then, Captain." She took the file back from Castle to read it herself. "Because I'm sure whatever she has had stored is worth killing over."

"What makes you say that?" Reynolds asked. He shoved the rest of the croissant in his mouth and chewed loudly.

Castle cringed, seeing the chewed up bread in the man's mouth.

"She's written specific instructions for their storage. The crates had to be in the center of the hold and she needed access to them at any moment to check on them. They were to be kept under guard at all times and no one was to open the crates under any circumstances. That sounds pretty damn important, don't you think?" she asked.

Reynolds examined the storage information. "I guess so."

"You'd be guessing correctly then," said Beckett. "You need to check on those crates-"

"But she said not to!" said Reynolds, pointing to the instructions left by Emma.

"She's dead," Castle pointed out.

"Those crates may be the key to finding our killer if that's why she's dead," said Beckett, taping the document onto the murder board.

The intercom crackled above them. "Captain Reynolds?"

Reynolds stood and pressed a button next to the speaker. "Yes?" he said.

"We've got him in the cargo hold."

They all looked at each other then followed Reynolds out the door.

They took an elevator to the belly of the ship; the cargo hold. Reynolds had to swipe his key card and punch in a four number password to gain access.

Three crew members stood on the other side of the door with a young man in zip ties sitting at their feet. They all grinned proudly like puppy dogs that caught their master a fat rabbit.

"Good work, gentlemen," said Reynolds.

"We caught him sneaking around among the cargo," said one of the men.

Beckett helped the man to his feet. "What were you doing down here?"

"I was just looking for my box!" said the man in an English accent. He had floppy brown hair and bright green eyes that almost shone in the dim light of the hangar.

"Why didn't you ask to see it?" asked a guard. "We have very strict policies here-"

"I know but…" began the man. "I couldn't wait. I had to check on it!"

"How did you get in here?" asked Reynolds.

The man smirked. "Your password's not all that hard. 2,5,8,0? C'mon, everyone uses that one."

That sequence was the four numbers going down the middle row of the keypad, Castle noted.

"So what's in this box that was so important to see, you couldn't wait?" asked Castle. "Don't tell me, you're transporting a frozen body that's actually your sister across the Atlantic to escape men with blue hands?" he said in reference to one of his favorite short-lived sci-fi shows.

The man frowned. "No. I'm selling rare peppers."

"Peppers?" asked Beckett with a raised eyebrow. She crossed her arms, not believing anything that this man was saying.

"Yes, peppers," said the man. "I'll show you if you take me out of these," he said, moving his bound hands.

The guard moved to cut him out.

"That won't be necessary," said Captain Reynolds. "I think we can find your supply ourselves."

Beckett gave Reynolds an approving nod. Maybe the captain was as dimwitted as he had introduced himself as.

"What's your name, son?" asked Castle.

"Jacob. Jacob Hertz," he said.

One of the crew members went to check the inventory list then led them to the proper area.

The packing label on the crate had Jacob M. Hertz on it with the barcode and number. "FRAGILE" was printed across the side in red ink.

Castle was deeply disappointed when they pried the lid off of the box.

The peppers were packaged individually in Plexiglas cubes. They were huge shiny jalapeño peppers and each had a price tag on the bottom reading $5,000.

Everyone examined a container.

Beckett turned the cube over in her hand, trying to find out what was so special about this one pepper. Sure, it was flawless, but no one would pay five grand for one pepper.

Jacob cleared his throat. "They're genetically engineered peppers," he explained, "thus the high price. They're perfect in every way."

"Who pays this much for a spice?" asked Castle, examining the pepper in awe.

"You'd be surprised. I have a buyer in South America who always pays full price for a dozen. He owns a restaurant," said Jacob. "Please be careful."

Captain Reynolds dropped one on the ground.

Jacob flinched. "I got worried about them in the extreme temperatures, you see. I couldn't have them drying up before I sold them."

"Is this a black market deal?" asked Beckett.

"No, ma'am. It's completely legal," said Jacob.

"How spicy are these?" asked Castle.

Jacob chuckled. "You have no idea."

"That spicy?" he asked, pulling the lid up and taking a whiff. His eyes began to water.

"Oh, yeah," said Jacob. "One flake of this is enough to send you to the hospital."

"Jesus Christ," whispered Reynolds.

"Can I buy one?" asked Castle eagerly.

"You got the money, you've got the pepper," said Jacob.

"Castle," Beckett scolded him. "We're on a case here."

"Right," said Castle.

Jacob looked crestfallen, having lost a sale.

"You're clear for now," said Beckett, cutting him out of the zip ties. "But don't leave… the ship." She had meant to say 'Don't leave town' but that couldn't really apply in this scenario.

Jacob rolled his shoulders after being emancipated from his bindings.

As Jacob left, Castle whispered to him, "hit me up later, okay?"

Jacob nodded and put his index finger and thumb together in the 'ok' sign.

"I suppose we should look at Emma Lexington's crates while we're down here," said Beckett, reaching for the inventory list.

The man holding it jerked it out of her reach. "You can't do that."

"What do you mean, I can't do it? I'm on this case," she grabbed for it again.

"You're in international waters, ma'am. Your badge gives you no power here," said the man. "I'm not going to get fired on an ethics violation because I let a detective without a valid badge search someone's cargo."

Beckett nodded, understanding where the man was coming from. "Who do I see for a search warrant?"

"International Affairs," said Captain Reynolds.

"So… we pretty much can't do anything until we get jurisdiction from IA?" stated Castle, sitting down on a crate.

"That's the law," said Reynolds.

"Great," sighed Beckett. "You have a crazy killer on the loose and we can't stop them."

"Well everyone's in their cabins right now under lockdown and the crew searched the entire ship for stowaways. Whoever did this is a registered passenger," said Reynolds.

"Or a crewmember," said Castle.

Reynolds stared at him. "I assure you, Mr. Castle, my staff is the best there is when it comes to luxury cruises."

"Oh, I'm not doubting that," said Castle quickly. "I really like the little animals they fold our towels into. It takes some mean origami skills to do that." He gestured the folding motion with his hands. "But having origami skills doesn't mean you're not a psychopath."

Reynolds pursed his lips. "I suppose we shouldn't rule that out as a possibility."

"When was the last time you ran background checks on your staff?" asked Beckett, pulling out a crate for her to sit on.

"There's a required yearly examination," said Reynolds. "Everyone cleared. If they hadn't, they wouldn't be working here."

"Captain Reynolds, why aren't you captaining?" asked Castle curiously.

"My second in command is running things at the moment, I thought that this might require most of my attention," said Reynolds.

"Were you captaining the ship during the murder?" Castle asked.

"Yes. What are you implying?" said Reynolds defensively.

"Just that we need to know where everyone was. It's standard procedure," said Castle hurriedly. He wasn't looking to get kicked off the case for offending Reynolds although he'd much rather be relaxing with Beckett on this trip. He knew that neither of them would be able to truly enjoy the cruise until they solved the case. It was an unspoken agreement between them.

"Well it doesn't look like we're going to get any further in this investigation tonight," said Reynolds. "I'll contact International Affairs and we'll have warrants by morning."

They nodded but were not comforted by the fact that the killer was still on the loose.

Reynolds saw their worried looks. "I would suggest putting your deadbolt to use tonight."

"Given," said Castle. "How much longer can we keep everyone on lockdown?"

"Not much longer, I'm afraid," he said with a frown. "People will be needing food soon and they won't be pleased to spend their vacation time in a cabin."

Captain Reynolds showed them out of the hangar. "We'll talk in the morning, detective."

* * *

They said their goodnights and headed back upstairs. They were instructed by a crew member to go straight back to their suite like the rest of the passengers were.

Instead, Castle took Kate by the hand and led her up to the deck. They glanced around to make sure that no one had seen them before stepping outside.

He took her to the hull of the ship where it came to a point. She stood in front of him, leaning against the banister.

It was nearly midnight; the stars and moon were as clear as could be. In the city, it was a rare occasion to see a star in the polluted sky. So it took their breath away to be able to see the constellations.

Rick traced a line in the sky with his hand, showing her every constellation he knew.

"It's amazing, Castle," Kate said quietly.

"I know," he said, smiling, "it really gives you a feel of how big the universe really is. It makes you realize how truly tiny you are in a world this large."

They stood in silence, staring up at the huge expanse.

Kate jumped, realizing something. "We didn't even talk about the murder weapon!"

"What about the-"

"It was a _kitchen_ knife. You can't bring something like that on a ship, it would never get past customs!" said Kate, turning to face him.

"You'd have to get it from the kitchen," said Castle, nodding. He was a little disappointed by the sudden interruption in the romantic moment.

"And you need a staff keycard to get access to the kitchen."

Castle stepped back from the hull and began pacing. "So the killer has to be part of the crew."

"We didn't discuss the motive either," said Kate.

"My guess is that they were after whatever Emma had in storage-"

"And what does the Lexington family specialize in?"

"Priceless jewelry!" said Castle.

"And the only people who knew what was in her cargo was-"

"The crew," he concluded.

Beckett thought for a moment. "But why would they kill her if they could have just taken the jewelry without anyone knowing? That's just creating complications…"

Castle stopped pacing. "She wouldn't keep her most precious pieces in a cargo hold; she would keep them close where she could protect them."

Beckett gasped. "She was _wearing_ the jewelry."

"I noticed that she didn't have any on her when they retrieved her body which was strange considering how formally she was dressed," Castle said, reaching out and taking her hand.

She brought their hands up to her lips. "The pieces she was wearing must have been worth millions," she said as she took a step closer to him.

"One of the crew members was tired of working for rich people; he wanted to be on the receiving side," said Castle, putting the story together. He put a hand on the small of her back and pulled her towards him.

"When he saw that Emma Lexington was on board, he saw this as his chance to get rich quick," said Kate, teasing him by brushing her lips lightly over his.

"He confronted her with a knife he stole from the kitchen and demanded that she give up the jewelry. Emma says, "Over my dead body," and bam said the lady, that's exactly how he gets it." He sighed as their lips met.

They were both suddenly turned on by the break in the case.

"Shouldn't we tell Reynolds?" Kate whispered, warming him with her hot breath.

"It can wait until morning," he replied as he took her back to their cabin.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now passing through the Bermuda Triangle," said the voice on the intercom.

Castle covered his eyes with his forearm to block out the morning light.

Kate lay next to him with her back to his stomach. A trickle of sweat rolled down her bare spine.

It was sweltering in the cabin even with the air conditioning on full blast. It didn't help that the curtain was open and the sun was turning their penthouse suite into an Easy Bake oven.

There was a sheet tangled around them and Castle stuck his leg out, trying to get some air flowing around them.

It was a wonder how they even slept in such heat.

Castle stood up and stretched, cracking his back, knees, and toes in the process.

Kate rolled over in her sleep and took the spot on the bed he had just vacated.

He smiled and just stared at her as she slept; something he enjoyed doing from time to time without her knowledge. She always looked so peaceful and relaxed, not like she was during the day when she was always on her guard.

There was a loud knock on the door, interrupting his thoughts.

Who was coming to get them this early in the morning?

Castle tiptoed into the bathroom, careful not to wake Kate, and tied a towel around his waist.

Before opening the door, he looked out the peephole.

"Captain Reynolds," said Castle in a fake cheery tone, "to what do we owe the pleasure?"

Reynolds held up two forms. "I got the warrants," he said, adjusting the ascot tied around the collar of his white uniform.

Castle blinked the sleepiness from his eyes. They had gotten back to the cabin at 12:45 and hadn't actually slept until around 3.

"Can I come in?" asked Reynolds, trying to look over Castle's shoulder into their suite.

Castle blocked him, shifting uncomfortably. "Beckett," he called. "Are you decent?"

They stood in the doorway, listening to the rustle of sheets as Kate quickly got dressed.

She came to the door in a royal blue sundress. "Captain Reynolds," she said, running her fingers through her tousled hair self consciously, "please, come in."

She and Castle exchanged glares behind Reynolds's back as he stepped inside.

Captain Reynolds fanned himself. "Jesus God, it is sweltering in here. Is your air conditioning on?"

"Yup, full blast," said Castle, tapping the thermostat.

"That's odd," said Reynolds, examining the vents. He held his hand up to the metal slats. "There's no air coming out of these."

"We'll be fine," said Kate, pouring them all glasses of ice water.

They sat down at the small round table in the private kitchen.

"Thanks," said Reynolds, taking a grateful gulp of the water.

"What did you find?" asked Beckett.

Reynolds tapped his glass with his fingernails. "We got into the cabin above you. We didn't find anything unusual but we have the passengers in holding for questioning."

"You didn't find any jewelry did you?" asked Castle.

Reynolds tilted his head. "No. The room was booked by six men and none of them had jewelry on them. Why?"

The two of them filled the captain in on what they had discovered.

"Did you check the knife for prints?" asked Beckett, twirling quickly melting the ice around her glass.

Reynolds wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Um… no there's been a problem."

Castle leaned forward. "What kind of problem?"

"Um…" Reynolds glanced out of the window. "The… the body's sort of… gone," he muttered, covering his mouth.

"What?" said Beckett. "How do you lose a body like that?"

"I don't know!" said Reynolds. "We had three guys looking over the body and not one of them saw anything. I'm telling you it's-"

"The Bermuda Triangle!" said Castle. "We're passing through that right now, aren't we?"

Beckett gave him a pitying look. "C'mon, Castle, you said you don't believe in that stuff."

"People go missing all the time in the Triangle," said Reynolds in Castle's defense.

"Yes, but in private planes," Beckett said with a smile.

"How else did the body go missing?" Castle challenged her.

"Maybe one of the crew members that was guarding it did it to get rid of the evidence that he was the killer," said Beckett.

Castle turned to Reynolds. "Do you have security cameras in that area?"

"We do in the hallway outside the room but not _in _it. That would be a privacy issue," said Reynolds with a shake of the head.

"We should have a look at that too," said Beckett. "Did you get into Emma Lexington's cargo?"

"Um…" Reynolds gave a small chuckle. "The crates are missing too."

Beckett's jaw dropped. "What?!"

"It's the Triangle!" Castle insisted.

Beckett turned and smacked him in the arm. "Shut up, it's not the Triangle!"

"We do have security cameras the cargo hold," said Reynolds in an attempt to redeem himself.

"Huge crates like that do _not _just go missing," said Beckett. "They're somewhere hidden on this ship."

"How do you know that they weren't taken off on a private boat?" asked Castle.

"My men would have picked up another boat on their radar," said Reynolds. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Emma Lexington had these papers in her safe." He handed them an envelope.

"Insurance papers?" asked Castle, taking one look at the documents and handing them off to Beckett. He didn't do paperwork.

"For a ten million dollar emerald necklace," said Beckett, holding up a photo of the missing jewelry. The necklace held a dozen smaller emeralds that gradually increased in size before meeting in the middle where the largest stone was. It was about the size of a baby's hand and was encased in gold.

"That is to _die _for," said Castle with a small chuckle.

Beckett and Reynolds stared at him.

"Sorry," he said, hanging his head.

"At least we know what we're looking for now," said Reynolds.

"Why are they worth so much?" asked Beckett. "It's beautiful but they're certainly not worth _this _much." She held her empty water glass up the photo which magnified it.

They all leaned in.

"See those scratches?" she pointed to miniscule black hashes in the side of the gold. "That would bring the price down considerably. These wouldn't be even close to this selling price even if they were perfect."

"Sometimes it's not about the look of it, it's about the _history_," said Castle, squinting at the photo. He never had a wide knowledge on jewelry. When it came to Valentine's Day, he had gotten his mother's help picking out diamonds for Kate. The emerald necklace looked normal to him, but Kate seemed to know what she was saying.

"What do you mean?" asked Reynolds.

Castle went into the next room and retrieved his laptop that was hidden at the bottom of his suitcase.

"I thought you weren't working on this trip," said Kate accusingly.

"Maybe I brought it to watch honey badgers who don't care on YouTube," Castle responded with a wry grin.

He set the laptop on the table and Googled "Lexington AND emerald AND million". The first hit was an article from the Huffington Post.

The photo above the article was the same one attached to the insurance form. _Lexington family heirloom_ was the caption.

"Ah ha!" said Castle proudly. "Look." He twisted the screen around so Beckett and Reynolds could read it.

_ The Heart of the Sea emerald necklace has been in the Lexington family since the early 1900s. It originally belonged to Duchess Elizabeth Lexington of London and was brought to America in 1904. The necklace, then worth a mere 300£, was passed down to her eldest daughter, Maria Lexington. Maria was one of the women who escaped the Titanic in a lifeboat on April 12, 1914. However, Maria died of frostbite on the lifeboat and the jewelry was returned to her family. Since then, the net worth of the Eye of the Sea has gone up by 1666.6%. Today it is worth close to $10 due to historical value. It now belongs to Emma Lexington, daughter of Francis and Lauren Lexington of Lexington Jeweler Corporations._

"The Heart of the Sea," said Reynolds.

"Yes, there's something poetic and kind of ironic about the whole thing," said Castle. "Its succession down the Lexington family line began and ended at sea."

Beckett rolled her eyes at him. "I think we need to find that body. We find the body, we find the knife, we find the killer, and we find the jewelry."


	4. Chapter 4

Castle, Beckett, and Reynolds stood behind a young security officer as he pulled up grainy footage of the hallway. The camera pointed at an angle at the infirmary that previously housed the corpse of Emma Lexington.

Three men stood outside guard outside the door.

"What time did you say the body went missing?" asked Beckett to clarify.

"I checked on her at 7:00 this morning and the next time someone went in there it was gone. The guard says that it was at 7:30," said Reynolds.

"What time did we start passing through the Bermuda Triangle?" asked Castle.

Beckett narrowed her eyes.

"It can't hurt to get our facts straight," he said defensively.

"7:05," Reynolds replied.

"Here it is, sir," said the security officer, clicking on the 7:30-7:40 time frame.

The screen showed the three guards standing at the door, tossing a ball back and forth out of boredom.

"Check on the body," said the older guard to the youngest looking one.

"Si," said the young guard, a Hispanic boy, no older than 18. He turned and peeked inside the infirmary. He looked back at the other guards with wide eyes. "?Donde estas la cuerpo?" Where is the body?

"Que?" said the older guard, pulling the door open wider to see for himself. "Madre Dios!"

The room was empty. The metal table where the corpse used to be was now bare except for the sheet that had covered the body.

"That was the last time that the door was opened," said the security guard, rewinding the tape for them to see. He was right; no one entered or left the room between the times Reynolds went in and the time that the guards checked on it.

"Are there any portholes in that room?" asked Beckett.

"No," said Reynolds, "The infirmary is below sea level."

"There has to be an explanation for this," she said.

Castle opened his mouth.

Beckett put her finger to his lips. "Don't say the Triangle," she warned.

He licked her finger playfully and she jerked it away. "I was just going to say that there could be another entrance. That door can't be the only one; that would be a safety hazard."

Beckett wiped the Castle spit off of her finger. "That's right; we should take a look at the infirmary, Captain Reynolds."

"Would you like to interrogate the men in the room above yours? I don't want to keep them longer than necessary if they're cleared," said Reynolds, wringing his hands anxiously.

"And our to do list gets longer and longer," said Castle. "Interrogate the suspects, look for the body, check the infirmary for exits, find the jewelry, find the killer."

"Hopefully one will lead to the other and we won't have to do some of those things," said Beckett. "I really want to get back to our vacation."

"If you want, I can have a few of my men search the ship for the body and jewelry while you're in interrogation," Reynolds offered.

"That sounds good," said Castle.

Reynolds showed them to a lower level of the ship where the holding cells were. Six men sat on metal benches behind wire gates.

"Gentlemen," said Reynolds, "This is Detective Beckett and Mr. Castle; they're here to talk to you about a murder that took place in your cabin last night."

A scrawny man in the center of the pack spoke up, "We didn't see nothin'!"

The man next to him elbowed him in the ribs, "Shut up, man."

Beckett smirked. "We're going to talk to each of you separately, although I'm sure you've spent most of your time down here getting your stories straight. So I'm going to start with this man here," she pointed to the scrawny man.

"Whoa, why me?" said the man, his voice squeaky.

"Because you're the jumpiest of the group and we want to get this thing done," said Castle.

"Let's go," said Beckett, pulling the man up by the arm and leading him into a private room off the corridor.

It was a tiny closet-like space with a metal desk in the center. It was dark except for an old light bulb hanging from a wire in the ceiling. Castle guesstimated that the total dimensions of the room were 5x5 feet.

The man sat down in one of the wooden two chairs and Beckett took the other, leaving Castle to stand smashed between her and the wall.

"Name?" asked Beckett, leafing through the stack of personal files Reynolds had left her with.

"Martin Martins," said Martin.

Castle chuckled.

Martin Martins stood. He came up to Castle's nipple at the most. "You got a problem with my name, chump?" said Martin Martins.

"Sit down, Martin Martins," Beckett ordered, pointing at his chair.

Martin Martins glared at Castle as he sat. "You're lucky your girlfriend's here or you would be in a whole lot of hurt right now."

"So what happened last night, Martin?" asked Beckett, extracting his file from the stack and tossing it over her shoulder to Castle.

Martin M. Martins from Atlanta, Georgia age 34 said the file. There were five other tickets besides his own that Martin paid for on his Visa which he found strange.

"Nothing!" said Martin Martins a little too quickly.

"We heard the guys in your room fighting last night and next thing we know, a body drops past our window," said Beckett. "The only floor above ours is yours."

"Don't forget the top deck!" said Martin Martins.

"The deck was deserted," said Beckett.

Martin Martins shifted in his chair.

"Does the name Emma Lexington ring a bell?" asked Castle.

"Never heard of her," said Martin Martins.

"So she wasn't in your room last night?" asked Beckett.

"Look, she _might_ have been," said Martin Martins, rubbing his forehead.

"How do you not know?" asked Castle curiously, liking where the story was going.

"We were really drunk last night," said Martin Martins. "There were a lot of girls in our room."

"Meaning…" Castle began.

"It's my buddy's bachelor party," said Martin Martins, covering his eyes.

"That explains this," Castle said, pointing to the six ticket charges to Martin's credit card.

"You paid for _all _of your friends to come on a cruise just for a bachelor party?" said Beckett. "Seems a little fishy-"

"Pun intended," said Castle.

"We paid for girls to come to our rooms-" said Martin Martins.

"Strippers?" asked Beckett.

"Prostitutes?" asked Castle.

"_Companions_," Martin Martins corrected them. "There's a difference."

"I'm sorry, companions," said Castle. "So you don't remember if Emma Lexington was in your room last night? Because we can always look for prints to verify your story…"

"No!" Martin Martins shouted. "Okay, she was there last night but she only came to complain about the noise."

"We didn't hear any noise," said Beckett.

"Maybe the sound travels differently, I don't know," said Martin Martins, "the point is that she came and left."

"I don't believe anything you're saying, Martin," said Beckett. "You said you were too drunk to differentiate one girl from the other. I think that the only reason you paid for your five friends to come on this trip was because you knew the payoff would be much higher."

"We didn't kill her!" Martin Martins insisted. "We were drunk but we weren't _that _drunk."

"Were there any crew members in your room last night?" asked Castle.

Martin Martins thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think so."

"Who?" asked Beckett, moving into his personal space to make him squirm.

"Um… it's all a blur but-"

"But you were sober enough to know that Emma stopped by," said Castle, running his tongue along his cheek.

"There was a waiter we met at dinner that we invited to the party," said Martin Martins.

"Why did you invite him?" asked Beckett.

Martin shrugged. "He seemed nice."

"Was anyone else there besides the six of you, the companions, and the waiter?" asked Castle.

"We hired entertainment-"

"So the strippers weren't enough?" said Castle.

"_Companions_," he corrected. "There was a sword swallower on board that we had heard about."

"That's where the knife came from," Beckett whispered to him.

"So the killer isn't necessarily a crew member, any person in the room could have taken a knife from the sword swallower."

"Do you remember who killed Emma?" asked Beckett.

Martin Martins sighed and bit his fingernail.

"Mr. Martins, if you help identify the killer, I can help make some of your charges disappear," Beckett said, sensing his hesitancy to turn on his friends.

"It was John Rivers," said Martin Martins. "He wanted us to come on this trip because he needed help with a jewelry heist he was planning. We had no idea that anyone would get hurt." He sighed. "I swear, no one was meant to get hurt. We started arguing after John took the knife and he… you know. And then we just got scared so we dropped threw the body overboard."

"You know that if you had just turned him in, none of you would have gotten in trouble," said Castle.

Martin Martins shook his head. "It was a stupid thing to do. It was so stupid."

"So where's the jewelry and the body now?" asked Beckett.

"I thought you guys got it," said Martin Martins, surprised.

"We did, but it seems to be missing. It's a crucial piece of evidence in this case," said Castle.

"I don't know," said Martin Martins, cracking his knuckles absentmindedly. "We kicked John out of the suite after the accident. And we haven't seen him until just now when you brought us in."

John Rivers was the opposite of Martin Martins. He was cool and confident and too cocky for someone being charged with murder.

"Your friend told us that you were the one who killed Emma Lexington," said Beckett.

"Don't listen to Martin. He says stuff," Rivers said, reclining in his chair.

"So you didn't kill her?" asked Castle.

"Hell no," said Rivers. "Martin probably just said that because he didn't want to get charged with attempted theft. The idiot didn't realize that a murder charge would get him locked up longer."

"Who did kill Emma?" asked Beckett. "Don't tell me it was Martins."

"It wasn't. It was Malcom Greene," said Rivers. He then proceeded to tell them the same jewelry heist gone wrong story that Martin Martins had just told them.

Castle looked at Beckett who was staring Rivers down.

The other three men gave the exact same story; blaming the crime on another.

"We're back to square one," said Castle after interrogating the last man.

"I believe their story about the heist, we just don't know who the actual killer is and where the body went," Beckett said, tapping her fingers against the desk impatiently.

"They're not going to testify against each other so I guess we should just find who the killer is ourselves," said Castle. He couldn't wait for this stupid case to be over and anyone who got in their way of solving it just pissed him off.

They left the six men in custody while they went to search the infirmary.

As Captain Reynolds had said, there was only one door and no portholes that someone could have climbed through.

Beckett pulled at cracks in the walls. "There _has _to be another entryway here."

Castle proceeded to open and close cabinets, searching for evidence. All he found was a lot of medical supplies.

"Whoa, look at this," said Beckett, pointing to a tray with scalpel and needles on it. She had found the murder weapon but it was now wiped clean of blood. She raised it to her nose and sniffed. "Bleach," she concluded.

"Our killer is cleaning up after himself," said Castle, taking the knife from her.

"Why would he take the time to clean it but not get rid of it?" asked Beckett. "He could easily just throw it off ship and no one would find it."

They thought for a moment.

"Unless he wants us to find it," said Castle, snapping his fingers. "Because…"

"There's still prints on it that would distract us from who the actual killer is!" said Beckett.

"So how did he get the body out?" asked Castle.

"I'll tell you how," said Beckett, striding over to the examination table. "Help me," she told him, starting to push it to the side.

When the table was against the wall, she knelt down and pulled up a tile. The rest of the room had 1x1 tiles, but this one was 2x2.

Sure enough, there was a hole under it with a ladder leading into darkness.

"Nice," breathed Castle. "Where do you think it leads?"

"Only one way to find out," said Beckett, taking a penlight from one of the cabinets and lowering herself into the hole.

Castle hesitated but then followed her.

She held the penlight in her mouth as she descended. The tunnel didn't go on for long. She jumped down from the ladder and swept the tiny light around her. They were in a maintenance room. A generator stood in the far corner and the walls were lined with dials and switches.

"Look," she said, shining the light on the ground where there was a streak of blood.

"He dragged her through here," said Castle, following the trail.

The blood went from the ladder to the opposite wall but then stopped suddenly.

"Where did it go?" asked Castle, confused.

Beckett looked around them, searching for another outlet. The last place she checked was up. A large vent was directly above them.

"Give me a boost," said Beckett, putting the light back in her mouth.

Castle clasped his hands together and she stepped into them. Hoisting her up, she pried the grate away and stuck her head inside.

"It's definitely big enough to hold a person or two," she said, her voice echoing in the shaft. "Yup. I see blood spatters."

He helped her back down.

"That can lead anywhere in the ship," she sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow.

Seeing this action made something click in Castle's head. "I know where the jewelry is!"


	5. Chapter 5

Castle didn't say anything until he and Beckett were back inside their suite. He tapped on the thermostat.

"The AC was on full blast last night yet it was still hot in here," said Castle.

"So?" asked Beckett.

"Our room and the one's above us are connected by vents. The reason it was so hot was because the air passes from the above room to ours. And the air wasn't passing through because something's blocking it," he explained, pulling the vent from the wall.

He crawled into the small space and disappeared. He emerged a minute later dragging something behind him. It made a cringe-worthy scraping sound as he yanked it along the metal. "A little help?" he asked, sticking his hand out.

Beckett grabbed his arm and pulled him out.

He turned and finished pulling whatever it was out and dropped it on the ground.

It was a crate with a Lexington Corporations label on it.

"There were three others back there but I could only take one at a time," said Castle proudly.

"Oh my God," said Beckett, taking the lid off of the crate.

Precious stones were incased in velvet boxes; diamonds, rubies, emeralds, jades. Some were as small as marbles, and some were as large as baseballs.

Castle picked up a huge diamond and ran his fingers over the smooth surface.

Beckett smacked it out of his hand. "It has the killer's prints on it," she explained when he gave him an incredulous look.

"Where's the Heart of the Sea?" Castle asked. "I don't think he would have left it with the other goods."

"You're right," said Beckett, closing the lid again.

They lifted the crate back into the air shaft and replaced the vent.

"It would still be with the killer," said Castle.

Beckett shook her head. "None of those guys had anything on them. We should send someone up here to get the prints from those stones. In the meantime, I think we should do our own snooping in that upper suite."

Castle stared at her, seeing where this was going. "How? We need a key to get in."

Beckett grinned mischievously.

"This is a bad idea," said Castle.

They stood on their balcony with climbing equipment they had stolen from the rock wall in the ship's gym.

"Bad ideas make good stories, Castle," said Beckett, looping a chord around her harness. "You should know."

"If you die, I'm going to read the best eulogy at your funeral," he teased. "Here lies my beloved Kate, my autumn flower; somewhat less attractive now that she's all corpsified and gross-"

Beckett smacked him and stepped up onto the banister.

Castle held her feet as she tossed the end of the rope over the banister above them and pulled it back down.

"You know, we could just _ask _Captain Reynolds to let us in," said Castle, helping her back down.

"I don't trust any of them," she said, looping the rope around one of the poles and handing the end to him. She tugged on the rope to test it.

He sighed as she climbed over the banister and let go of the railing; the only thing keeping her from plummeting into the water below was the rope he was holding.

As she climbed up the side of the ship, he pulled the rope to give her weight to work against.

He cringed when he heard the upper banister squeak in protest.

He finally released his breath when the rope went slack indicating that she had made it onto the next floor.

Beckett slid open the balcony door and looked around. This suite was almost identical to their own except it was three times the size. The room was a wreck; tequila bottles were strewn about and clothes were everywhere. There was a water spot on the wall and below it was a smashed vase. The bed was stripped of its sheets and the pillows were missing.

She carefully stepped over the broken glass and rotting food in front of the door and made her way to the bed. She knelt and ran her hands under the mattress. The first place someone would hide something would be under the bed.

Her fingers met something hard and round. She pulled it out and held it up to the light.

It was the Heart of the Sea; even more dazzling in real life.

_That was too easy,_ she thought.

The emeralds shone and the gold was flawless. It was a gorgeous piece of jewelry, but Kate herself would never wear it. It was too impressive.

As she tucked it in a towel for safe-keeping, something occurred to her. She examined it again.

_The gold was flawless!_

In the insurance photo, the gold had tiny scratches in it, meaning that this one was a fake.

The counterfeit was obviously planted there for a reason.

She went back onto the balcony and tossed it down to Castle.

"Nice!" she heard him say.

"It's fake!" she shouted.

"Again?!" he said, referring to the time they had investigated the Blue Butterfly case.

"I'm going to keep looking," she said, moving back inside.

She put into effect the best thing Castle had taught her since they started working together; to reenact the crime by walking the scene.

_There was a loud party going on. The men made it purposefully loud to lure Emma Lexington to their room to complain._

Beckett moved to the door.

_Emma comes to the door after going to a formal dinner and she's still wearing the Heart of the Sea._

_One of the guys answers the door. He sees the necklace and figures, "We were going to steal it later, but why not get it done now?"_

_He invites Emma inside and she declines._

Beckett mimes Emma stepping away from the door and then turns to play the killer's part.

_The man grabs her from behind and pulls her inside; locking the door. He turns to the weapon closest to him which is the sword swallower's knife. He pushes her to the ground and holds the blade to her throat. He demands that she give him the necklace._

Beckett stands where the murder would have taken place and runs her toe over the carpet. Sure enough, she spots a tiny droplet of red on the floor.

_Emma says, "Over my dead body," and he stabs her in the heart, takes the necklace, and hides it. He wants his friends to help him get rid of the body, but they're angry because the plan didn't include murder._

Beckett crossed the room to the balcony door.

_The killer gets the door open, but the other men start to argue with him. He convinces them that they'll get blamed for the murder too unless they help him._

She went back outside and leaned up against the banister.

_The other guys help him throw the body overboard and then move the necklace to a safer place._

_They down the tequila and trash the room so it will look like it could have been a drunken accident._

_In their original plan, they were to swap the real Heart of the Sea with the fake one they brought along._

_They hide the fake one in an obvious place in the room to throw off the authorities and send the real one to… someone else to hold._

The waiter! They gave the Heart of the Sea to the waiter because no one would have suspected that he was in the room that night.

Happy with the results she had gathered, Beckett tugged on the rope to tell Castle she was coming down.

She scaled to the lower balcony which was easier on the trip back than the trip up.

"What did you find?" asked Castle, rolling up the climbing gear.

They sat down in the lounge chairs and she filled him in on the details.

When she finished, he only stared at her with his chin in his hands.

"What?" she asked with a sigh. "You have a better theory?"

He hesitated.

"C'mon, just spit it out, Castle," she said impatiently. "Your theory probably makes more sense than mine anyways."

"It's not about the jewelry at all," Castle said simply.

"Then why would they go to all that trouble to plant a counterfeit and steal the crates?" asked Beckett.

Castle stood and looked down into the water. The sky had grown dark today and the ocean was dark and choppy. He stared at the horizon, giving himself time to think.

Kate joined him at the edge but remained silent. She knew better than to interrupt his train of thought.

"To distract us from the real reason Emma was killed," he said finally.


	6. Chapter 6

Kate had broken them into the cargo hold and they now roamed the aisles of boxes, crates, and barrels. It wasn't hard getting in; they knew that the passcode was 2580 and she swiped a keycard from an oblivious waiter.

Castle led the way to Jacob Hertz's supply. Kate took one of her heels off and used the stiletto to pry the lid off that had been carefully nailed back on.

"What's so important about the peppers?" asked Kate as Castle pushed the plastic boxes around.

He selected the larges one he could find and held it up to the light. "What's wrong with this?"

Kate took the box from him and examined the vegetable. It was shiny, green, and plump without any bruising or shriveling on it. "Nothing," she replied, handing it back to him.

"Exactly," said Castle, popping the lid off and picking the pepper up by the stem.

Kate grabbed his wrist and stopped him. "Castle, those are worth five grand. If something happens to it-"

"Nothing's going to happen to it. Have you noticed how hot it's been lately?" he asked.

She nodded, urging him to continue before they got caught.

"There's barely any air coming into this hold. If these were normal peppers, they would be shriveled and decomposing by now."

"They're genetically altered," Kate quoted Jacob Hertz.

"They're plastic," stated Castle, tapping the pepper with his thumb. It made an abnormal clacking sound as his nail met it.

Beckett looked at it again. It _did _look too perfect to be real.

"These are like Easter eggs; the goodies are on the inside," Castle said. Before Kate could stop him, he slammed the pepper on the edge of another crate. It bristled and cracked and he pried it the rest of the way open with his fingers.

Kate watched in awe as the shell of the pepper fell away revealing a small baggie with tiny white crystals inside. "Meth," she said. "This is a drug scam."

Castle nodded. "That's right. So here's how it's connected with the murder. Jacob Hertz was working with the other six guys on this smuggling deal. While Jacob was down here, checking on his supply, he got to snooping around and came across Emma Lexington's crates. He figured he'd transfer some of her goods in with his own before docking but then he hears about the Heart of the Sea. When he tells the other guys about it, they want in; the meth isn't enough for them anymore with the promise of a few million on the line. Jacob planned on stealing the necklace from Emma's room while the others distracted her by luring her up to their suite. When Martin Martins, the leader of the heist, sees that Emma is wearing the necklace, he figures that this is their only chance. He stabs her and takes the necklace. The others are angry because they hadn't agreed to murder, that's why they were arguing. They want to stick to the meth deal so at least they'll get money from that outlet. They hide the necklace but Jacob switches it with a counterfeit so he can keep it for himself; knowing that the other guys won't know the difference. The rest of them take the crates to distract from the meth and hide them in the vents."

"Jacob double crossed them!" said Beckett. It all made sense now. "While we're looking for the jewelry; which they never planned on taking off the ship, they were moving the meth right under our noses. But Jacob still has the necklace."

Castle grinned. "Let's go get him then!"

* * *

They couldn't avoid getting Captain Reynolds in on the plan this time because they needed permission to knock down a door and kick some ass if it came to that.

Four armed security guards stood behind them as they rapped on Jacob Hertz's cabin door.

Beckett felt naked and vulnerable without a gun herself but her feet were a suitable weapons too when meeting a male's testicle. "Jacob Hertz, it's Detective Beckett."

They heard him quickly moving around inside. "One minute!" A drawer opened and closed and a suitcase was being zipped.

"No, now," Beckett ordered.

"Just a minute!" Jacob shouted, opening and closing drawers.

Beckett looked at Reynolds who gave her the ok nod. She backed up and kicked the door in. The security guards followed her in.

The room looked ransacked; the bureau was thrown open and was left empty. Nothing was left in the drawers and the mattress was flipped over.

Jacob Hertz, however, was MIA.

Where could he have gone? They were in the middle of the Atlantic, for God's sake.

"Freeze!" yelled one of the guards.

Beckett and Castle looked over to the balcony where the guards had gravitated towards. Jacob was standing on the ledge, dangling the Heart of the Sea over the water. "Don't shoot or I'll drop it!" he yelled.

The guards-who had no idea how much the necklace was worth-raised their gun.

"No!" Castle shouted. "That thing is worth a fortune!"

"Smart man," Jacob nodded to Castle. "Which is worth more? My life or the necklace?"

Reynolds tried to maintain control of the situation. "Now, everyone, let's just calm down and discuss this in a civil manner."

"It's over, Hertz," shouted Beckett. It was loud on the balcony because Jacob's room was so close to the crashing waves. "We know about the meth."

Jacob's face fell and he looked at the necklace. "I'm going to jump unless you put down your guns!"

"We're over dangerous waters," said Reynolds, "You jump, you're dead."

"If you shoot me, I'll fall into the water!" Jacob bluffed.

Castle grabbed a gun from the nearest guard and shot Jacob in the shoulder.

Jacob shouted and he crumpled forwards onto the deck.

Beckett stared at Castle. "How did you know he'd fall that way?"

He shrugged. "I had a 50/50 chance."

The guards rushed to detain Hertz as he howled in pain. The Heart of the Sea rested in a pool of blood next to him.

Castle crinkled his nose as he stuck his foot out and scooted the necklace towards him and picked it up. The blood gathered together at the tip of the largest emerald and dripped onto his shoe. "Wow," Castle breathed. "It's beautiful."

"It's fake," Beckett sighed.

Castle stomped his foot. "Damn it!" He threw the fake into the ocean.

As the necklace released from his grip, Beckett shouted, "I WAS KIDDING!"

Castle's jaw dropped as the necklace hit the surface of the water and disappeared. "WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!"

Kate giggled. "I'm just kidding it was fake."

Castle clutched his heart and breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't thrown a multi-million dollar necklace into the depths of the ocean.

She raised an eyebrow. "Or was it?"

Castle frowned. "Don't do that," he said sternly. "How do you know it was a fake?"

She scratched her nose. "It didn't have scratches in it either."

He stared at her with his head tilted to the side. "Are you just saying that or are you serious?"

Her smile dropped. "I wouldn't lie."

Castle put his arm around her and walked away from the scene. "I didn't say you'd lie, but you do like to kid."

Kate laughed. "We put seven people behind bars today."

"Maybe we can finally get back to our vacation. You know we haven't done one thing on this entire cruise? Look at all the things they have to do here!" he gestured around them where people were sipping tropical drinks next to saltwater pools, played mini golf, and got henna tattoos. Everyone was decked out in traveling gear (i.e. ugly shirts, sunglasses, and digital cameras) and was sweating profusely in the sun. "Actually," he said as a young boy who looked slightly constipated stepped into the hot tub, "I think I'd have much more fun in our cabin; just the two of us."

Beckett nodded, dragging him off to their room. "Good plan."


End file.
